Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing

Let me apologize right up front to those of you on the East coast, because you can't get this beer unless you travel to the left coast, or find someone nice enough to do that for you and bring one back in their luggage (how I acquired one).  Even though it's limited where you can get this, I still had to review it, because Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Elder has really become the Godfather of American double IPAs.

First things first, what is an American double IPA?  Well, as is often the case, we Americans just couldn't leave well enough alone.  IPAs (India Pale Ales) were originally brewed as a beer that could survive the long sailing time from Europe to India (or further).  They rely on the fact that hops are a natural preservative.   Add more hops to your beer and it will stay drinkable longer.  Also, hops add so much of the flavor to beer and in an IPA, they are front and center.  Like any ingredient, the exact variety of hops can lend various different flavors to a beer...spicy bitterness, fruits, pine, etc.  I won't claim to be able to pick out some of the specific flavors, but if you can't pick out the wonderful, hoppy bitterness, you need to get your taste buds checked.  What a double IPA comes down to is just a hopped up IPA.  They generally have higher alcohol content and they definitely have a LOT more of that  excellent hop bite.  There are also triple IPAs, which, as you can guess, are even more intense.

Just a note here...I am a hop-head.  I love that hoppy bitterness...the stronger the better!  I love it when my beer bites back and leaves my taste buds begging for mercy.  Sure, a few intensely hopped beers and your taste buds are useless for the rest of the night, but I don't drink to get drunk.  I drink beer for the flavor.

On to this particular version...Pliny the Elder.  Pliny is 8% a.b.v. and 100 IBUs (International Bitterness Units).  More IBUs = more bitter beer.  Some say that an IBU of 100 is about the limit of what you can taste, but I don't subscribe to that school of thought.  This beer is certainly up there on the IBU scale though.  The bottle label has some great advice for these types of beers. "Respect your Elder: keep cold, drink fresh, do not age!  Pliny the Elder is a historical figure, don't make the beer inside this bottle one!  Not a barley wine, do not age!  Age your cheese, not your Pliny!  Respect hops, consume fresh!  Does not improve with age!  Hoppy beers are not meant to be aged!  Keep away from heat!  If you must, sit on eggs, not on Pliny!  Do not save for a rainy day!  Pliny is for savoring, not saving!  Consume Pliny fresh, or not at all!"  But wait, I thought you said IPAs were meant for long travels?  Yes, but they don't taste the same at the end.  That wonderful bitterness dissipates over time, removing the reason for drinking them!  Barley wines, stouts and various other ales can often age beautifully, smoothing out and subtly changing the flavor, but not an IPA.  It would just be a waste of beer and time.

As you can see in the picture, this beer pours a beautiful golden hue with a frothy white head.  The head doesn't linger forever, but there are some nice remnants hanging around for quite awhile.  The smell is, in a word, intense!  The beer has a very strong grapefruit smell.  Don't worry, that's not a bad thing...just one of those flavors that hops can add.  Simcoe hops have that strong grapefruit smell and taste, but I can't say for sure what they used here.  The grapefruit comes through in the taste here as well.  Make no mistake, if you're not a fan of strong, hoppy beers, this isn't for you.  If you are, though, this is one of the best examples of a double IPA out there anywhere.  One of the great things about this beer is that, at least for me, I don't feel like I completely destroyed my taste buds.  While drinking it, it was as intense as I like, and it is just an amazingly full flavor, but it fades nicely away.  It's balanced (as balanced as a double IPA can be) and drinkable, which isn't often the case with this style.  Beer Advocate has it rated as the #3 beer in the world...yes, the world.  While I don't agree with that, it's best example of a double IPA I've ever had. 

This beer easily gets an A+ from me.  There's nothing bad to say about it, except for the lack of it anywhere where I can buy beer.  If you end up in CA or some of the neighboring states out there, and you see Pliny the Elder either on tap or in the bottle, drink up!  You won't be disappointed!